


Never Enough - Inhuman

by Lozza



Series: Never Enough [2]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, M/M, Mentions of Cancer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 20:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14480781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lozza/pseuds/Lozza
Summary: Danny is a self harmer, living with Steve and has managed to keep harm free for quite a while now, until this. He is getting a lot of stress from his family about one of his brother-in-laws. Steve does what he can to help.





	Never Enough - Inhuman

**Author's Note:**

> Part of my Never Enough universe. This is something I needed to write, mainly because I'm getting stress from my parents regarding my stupid brother. Danny unfortunately has got the brunt of my annoyance.

Snap! The pencil Danny held in his right hand broke in half with a sharp crack as he listened to his father spouting crap at him on his phone, held against his ear in his other hand. “You’re inhuman, Danny. The guy is dying and you won’t even send him a card. What is wrong with you?!”

“With me?!” Danny snapped back at his father. “You sanctimonious prick!” He stood up fast, shoving his chair back with his legs so harshly the thing crashed into the sideboard behind him and tipped over, the noise echoing through the office. He didn’t care, just paced his office, and threw the remains of the pencil across the room as he flung his arm out in anger. “You’ve been telling me for months how much of an asshole he is! And now this? I’m not getting any information from anyone about this. We all know what you and he are like. Pancreatic and prostate cancer remind you of anything? How the hell do I know you’re not fucking lying? Again?”

Steve looked up from his own computer at the noise of his partner’s chair hitting the floor, and he was up on his feet even before he thought about it. He waved Lou and Tani, who had also both got up at the noise, away, and walked straight in to his partner’s office, closing the door again behind him. 

Danny, free hand pulled back in a fist, looked as if he was just about to punch something, and the nearest thing in his reach was a thick glass window. Steve grabbed that hand in his own to stop him, and raised an eyebrow at him. 

Danny relaxed at his presence, despite how angry and upset he was, and he didn’t actually fight when Steve used his other hand to gently take the phone from him. He pressed the device to his own ear, heard Danny’s dad say: “Don’t talk to me like that” and shook his head. “Fuck you,” he snapped at him. “He won’t call you back.” Then he quickly hung up and pressed the off with his thumb, hard. The device turned off, and only then did he hand it back. 

Danny took it in his free hand, chucked it onto his desk and moved closer to him. Steve nodded, let go of his fist and then simply embraced him tightly, pulling him close against him with both arms. 

Danny collapsed against him, slipped his arms around his partner’s waist and groaned. “He called me inhuman,” he murmured, his voice muffled in Steve’s t-shirt. 

Steve huffed and shook his head. “Then he’s a fucking idiot,” he told him and nuzzled his temple with his chin. “And he doesn’t know you at all.” 

“He should, he’s my Dad,” Danny replied, and was silent for a few moments. Then Steve felt him start to shake slightly in his arms, and he tried to stop the quiet sob, but the Commander just hugged him tighter. 

“It’s okay, Babe,” Steve told him and pressed a kiss into his soft hair. “Let it out, I get it.” 

Danny wanted to howl his distress into his lover and best friend’s shirt, but he didn’t want to do it at work. It was difficult, very difficult, this wasn’t the first argument he and his parents had had about his brother-in-law, and he knew it wasn’t going to be the last. He squeezed his eyes closed and pressed against Steve’s hard chest, took a few deep breaths and shook himself out of it. “Did you just tell my Dad to fuck off?” he commented when he pulled away, but only enough to look up at him. “Really?” 

Steve smiled at him but he wasn’t fooled, he knew Danno well enough now. “No, I said: fuck you; to him. I meant it, and will say it again if he calls with more shit. And don’t tell me you’re okay now, Danny, I know you’re not.”

The man himself huffed and looked down for a moment, away from him. “I can’t deal with this shit, Steve,” he admitted quietly. “I hate the guy, he assaulted me, threatened to do the same to Grace, beat up my sister when she was pregnant. Spent the last eight years not paying for that child, even demanding money from her because he got fired. And now they’re blaming everything on everyone else, me included and trying to guilt trip me into going to visit him. And send him a fucking card of all things!” he shouted. Then pulled away completely so he could pace the office, hands in his hair. “A fucking card! The asshole’s blind because he ignored all medical advice and didn’t control his diabetes. How’s he going to read a fucking card?!”

Despite the situation Steve found himself smirking at that one. “You could always get one that says ‘get well soon’,” he told him, amused despite the situation.  
Danny turned to face him, saw the smirk on his face and stalked over to him. “I bet you think that’s funny,” he said, letting go of his hair so he could poke his partner in the chest. 

Steve noted the poke was light, so he knew he was on safe ground. “It was kinda funny, Danno,” he replied and smiled properly at him. “Nothing more than he deserves after all.”

Danny seemed to lose some steam and laid his palm on Steve’s chest where he had poked him, then his forehead on him again. “I don’t know how I feel,” he admitted. “I’m scared to turn on my iPad just incase I get another message from my mother telling me how bad a son I am, how close to dying the guy is. But they won’t even tell me what sort of cancer it is, what stage it’s at, what the treatment options are. It’s so much like the time my Dad got everyone together and told us all he had advanced prostate and pancreatic cancer and had weeks to live.” He shook his head and stepped closer again, and Steve embraced him again, both arms and pulled him tight. “Turns out he had a minor kidney infection and had had to use the john in the middle of the night.”

Steve shook his head and pressed another kiss into his hair. “I’m sorry,” he told him sincerely. “I bet they all tried to lean on you, didn’t they?” he asked him. 

Danny nodded. “Yeah,” he answered. “That I had all the answers. All I did was tell him to go to his doctor. Then I had to make the appointment because he obviously knew better than some ‘quack’ as he called them, then took him there too.” He moved then, but only enough to regain his previous position: both arms around Steve’s waist again, face pressed against his strong shoulder. “I cut so much then,” he admitted darkly. “That was the only time I ever went to get medical help myself. The other time my Mom took me, I told you that, didn’t I?”

Steve nodded, kissed him again. “You did,” he assured him. “I remember. And I hate the fact that people have caused you to do that,” he reiterated. He’d said it before, and meant it with the core of his being. He hated anyone that had caused his lover to cut and injure himself because of their actions, their words. He still wanted a list of those, so he could do … something in revenge to those people, but Danny hadn’t given him the information. He only really knew about this one because he’d been with him most of the time when he was getting those messages from his mother and father in Jersey. “You’ve not done … anything because of this, have you?” he asked quickly, suddenly concerned. He hadn’t seen any new wounds on his lover, but he was the first one to admit he had been concentrating on that new bullet wound in Danny’s chest rather than anything else, and the man had been an expert in hiding them before he’d come clean a few years ago. 

Danny shook his head, and looked up at him, making sure his lover knew he was telling him the truth. “It’s so difficult not to though.”

Steve had never felt the compunction to cause himself an injury, but he did know how hard it was to fight your own instincts. He also knew how hard Danny fought his own urges, his negative outlook, his own anxiety and being a self harmer made it a daily struggle for him, all hidden from most people. Steve took it as a blessing that he was allowed in, and he just hugged him tighter. “I love you, Danny,” he told him. They held on to each other for a few more moments before Danny made to pull away again. 

“I suppose we should get back to work,” the detective said quietly. “Paperwork.”

Steve shook his head. “I think the boss will let us play hooky for the rest of the day,” he commented with a smile. “I’ve got a place I’ve been meaning to take you. You game?” 

Danny smiled at him. “As long as its not something death defying, like jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft. I’m game.” 

“Cool,” Steve answered and let him go, just so he could grab his hand and hold on tight. “Come on, let’s go.”

Danny gave his mobile a look as he decided, then shook his head. “I may regret leaving that here,” he told his partner, but didn’t reach for it. “I just…”

“Grace will call me if she can’t get hold of you,” Steve assured him. “Leave it. I’ve got mine and there’s a sat phone in the car. Okay?”

With a final nod Danny agreed, and ended up pulling Steve out of his own office, making the decision for him. The other two were trying to hide their interest in what had been going on in that office, Lou pointing to something on the tech table to Tani who was trying her hardest not to look up at them. “Lou, we’re taking the rest of the day,” Steve told the older cop. “I don’t even care about zombie apocalypses. Okay?”

Lou nodded with a smirk. “Okay,” he agreed with a nod. They watched them go, Steve pulling Danny out of the office with him, and then turned back to the work in front of them. 

“Does that happen often?” Tani asked after she was sure they were alone. 

Lou shook his head. “Not often enough,” he replied. “Lets get back to it. We might be able to solve this by the time they get back.”

 

******************************************************

 

Steve bundled his partner into the Camaro and quickly drove it away from the Palace. He had a place he wanted to go, just needed to go home to get some things before they left. He drove quickly, as usual, but Danny was quiet, not shouting at him for dodging red lights, and he kept glancing over at him in concern. His partner was looking out of the windshield, but it was obvious he was somewhere else, probably back in Jersey. He only roused again when Steve parked the car outside their house, coincidentally where Steve was spending most of his time now, and the Commander laid a hand on his arm. “D? You with me?” he asked him. 

Danny nodded and looked around them. “Where…?”

“Come on, Babe. Lets get changed into something less work like and I’ll take you somewhere else. Okay?”

Danny studied him for a few moments before he nodded. “Okay,” he agreed and got out of the car. He made his way to the house, used his key to get in, and let Steve lead him up the stairs to their room. “What do I need to wear?” he asked him, well aware he was on semi-dangerous ground, letting Steve dictate what he should do, where he should go. The last time he did that he’d ended up jumping out of a perfectly good aeroplane after all. 

Steve grinned at him and threw some clothes at him, that turned out to be his beach ware, board shorts, tee shirt, nothing more dangerous than that. “And your slippers downstairs,” he added as he got his own out as well. 

It only took a few moments for them both to strip, get re-dressed and head back down the stairs again. Steve popped into the garage and came back out with their surfboards, which wasn’t too much of a surprise really. He glanced at the Camaro, and then at his truck, still on the driveway, and decided to take that one. 

“Help me with this,” he asked, and between them they strapped both boards securely in the flatbed. Just as the Commander was finishing Danny left him to it and went back into the house, grabbing the cool box he kept as he did so. He was only a few minutes, filling it with water, beer and some picnic food they hadn’t used at the weekend before he was back again, shoving it behind the driver’s seat. He shrugged at Steve’s raised eyebrow and climbed into the passenger seat of the truck. “Just in case,” he told him when his partner climbed in the driver’s side. Steve nodded, closed the door and fired up the ignition. “Good plan,” he agreed, and drove away, hopefully leaving their troubles behind, if only for a few hours. 

 

They had ended up in a secluded beach a few miles from home, the only people on the beach, the only vehicle in the parking lot, more of a gravel clearing in the coastal flora really. They spent a lovely couple of hours surfing on the medium waves, not too high, not too low, and Steve ended up watching Danny as he showed him exactly how well he was suited on the water. His partner was not the man he had been, no longer “swim only for survival”, now he was happy on a board, pleased to spend an afternoon riding waves with Steve. After that they spent some time floating together, on their backs on their boards, fingers of one hand entwined with each other so they didn’t lose each other, and only sat up when a small pod of whales swam by a little way out to sea. 

Eventually, as the afternoon moved into evening, they made their way back to shore, the beach still to themselves, and Danny went back to the truck to get the cool box and a backpack that he knew Steve kept in the locked trunk in the flat bed. While he did that the SEAL himself was making a fire pit in the sand, gathering dry wood and some stones to line the pit, and he was pleased to take the pack from his partner and find the lighter he kept in it. 

There was a blanket in the trunk that Danny had brought back as well, and between them, showing that they had done this a lot before, they had the fire going and their own food and drink out and ready to indulge in. Sitting close together, touching from shoulder, hip to knee, drinking beer and eating the food, and Danny felt contentment right there. “Thanks for this, Love,” he said to Steve as he stared out to sea, watching the sun drop in the sky. “This, I can’t even tell you how much I needed this today.”

Steve faced him and pressed a kiss to his lover’s bare shoulder. “I needed it too,” he assured him. “I love spending time with just you, Babe. Just to be us. We don’t get that enough.”

Danny looked at him and nodded. “We don’t,” he agreed. “What with the kids, work, the restaurant and everything else. We need to do something about that.”

“Hmmm,” Steve replied thoughtfully. Then he smiled and put down his beer bottle, pushing it into the sand to make sure it didn’t roll away before they left. “Let me think about that,” he told him and reached for Danny’s beer bottle, pushing it in the sand next to his. Then he grabbed his lover and pushed him onto his back on the blanket, then grabbed the pack beyond his partner. “Luckily I packed some more lube,” he told him and grabbed the bottle to show him.

Danny grinned up at him. “Always the boy scout,” he told him and slipped his hand around the back of his partner’s neck to pull him down and kiss.  
Steve took the invite and put the lube to good use. 

 

Eventually they had to go home, the stars had appeared while they watched after Danny had ridden Steve, and the temperature turned a little chilly. Danny sighed to himself as they packed up and he made sure the fire was completely out, filling the empty cooler with water to douse it before spreading the embers with his feet and smothering them with sand. Steve’s phone hadn’t rung all afternoon, but he knew his own phone would be loaded with messages from family that would attack him again the moment he turned it on. 

Steve heard him and slipped an arm around his waist to hug him tight. “It’ll be okay, Babe,” he assured him. “I’ll answer your phone if they call again.”

Danny shook his head and kissed him. “No,” he told him firmly and shook himself. “I’m not going to let that happen. You shouldn’t take that for me.” He sighed again and looked around them. “Let’s go home, Eddie’ll be wondering where we are.”

Steve studied him for a few moments before he agreed. “Okay, but it’s our problem, not just yours. Lets go.” With that they made sure they left the beach as they had found it, and headed back home.

 

Danny knew when he got back to the office in the morning he’d had a shit ton of messages and voicemails on his phone, but at that time he didn’t really care. He just cared that Grace did indeed call Steve’s phone when she couldn’t get a response from his own, and he spent a happy hour chatting to her and Charlie while Steve pottered around the kitchen making them a small meal of pasta, fresh tomatoes, and garlic, joining in with the conversation every so often. Then, after they’d eaten and washed it down with some wine, Steve took him to the shower where they spent a rather enjoyable longer than three minute wash, before taking him to bed. At least, with Steve making him feel a lot better, a lot calmer, he fell asleep easily and stayed that way until their alarm woke him up in the morning. 

He felt stronger, more fortified to face the day. But he still appreciated Steve giving him a quick hug in the car at the Palace before they got out, and the big SEAL pushing his way into Danny’s office before him, grabbing his phone despite the owner’s token protest. He didn’t give it back until he had gone through the messages and texts, then handed it back with a kiss when he had deleted the more vitriolic ones. “I love you, Danno,” he assured him with another kiss. “Shall we go and catch some bad guys?” 

Danny found himself nodding with a smile. “I love you too. Anyone in mind?”


End file.
